This was supposed to be Ohio State's biggest game of the season, a battle of top-10 teams, and then Penn State had to go and stop playing against Indiana on week one of the Big Ten season and watch the Hoosiers pull out a 36-35 overtime thriller.

As long as the Big Ten gets through its games with little to no interruption, there should not be an issue about an undefeated or one-loss Big Ten champ being in the mix for the College Football Playoff, but this game would have looked a lot better if it were between two undefeated teams, rather than a 1-0 team and an 0-1 team.

That still won't change the buzz around Columbus (Ohio) or State College (Pa.) when it comes to this series between the Buckeyes and the Nittany Lions. While Ohio State has a rival in Michigan and Penn State has a rival in Big Ten referees, it is pretty safe to say that some of the most meaningful games over the past handful of years have come out of this series.

What do we know about the Nittany Lions at this point of the year though? We know that Micah Parsons is not walking through that door, taking the likely Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year off the field. We know that Journey Brown won't be here for this game and the position of running back at Penn State goes from being a luxury to a bit of a concern.

And we know that Ohio State has really owned this series as of late, even if the margins have not been big in this series since a 28-point Ohio State win in Columbus back in 2015. Ohio State has not won a game in State College by more than two touchdowns since 2009 in a 24-7 win over the Nittany Lions.

But all of those games were in front of fans. Tens of thousands of fans. This game will be in front of tens of fans, as per Big Ten rules.

Enough talking about things around the game, let's talk about the game and with that we are heading behind enemy lines to talk to Nate Bauer of BlueWhiteIllustrated.com to learn more about Ohio State's next opponent.

Nate Bauer: Good question.

This is probably obvious, but also probably worth mentioning at this point that you just never know how a team is going to handle a situation like this. Some years you think a team has strong leadership and can stand up to some bumps in the road, especially the unexpected ones, and they’re just not able to do so. Other years, a team takes an expected lump and can’t snap out of it. It’s really just impossible to tell.

That said, from what I think I’ve observed from this particular team and these particular leaders this year, my sense would only be that last week’s game could serve as something of a benefit heading into Saturday night given the opponent at hand. Put it this way, if Penn State gets through Indiana, even in a close one, it creates an atmosphere in which Ohio State is the be-all, end-all, similar to most other years with this program. That’s just the reality of who and what Penn State football wants to be, and it believes deeply that it has to get past the Buckeyes in order to reach those goals.

But, in this weird and abbreviated season, now Penn State stubs its toes right out of the gates, with much of its troubles and shortcomings completely its responsibility. Truly, Indiana had some clutch plays down the stretch, but there is no getting around the fact that Penn State moved the ball offensively, had ample opportunities for points, and then repeatedly shot itself in the foot, and overwhelmingly at the responsibility of the offense and special teams.

So, with that in mind, the defense already believes it can play. That is obviously going to be an essential component to being able to wrangle an Ohio State team that can get away from you pretty quickly if you’re not sound defensively. And on top of that, quarterback Sean Clifford and the offense are going to feel like they can and will be able to be that much more dialed in against the Buckeyes. Throw in some unusually sloppy play from Penn State’s special teams, again, of its own doing, and this team might not have the horses to get past the Buckeyes, but it isn’t likely to be its own worst enemy in a loss.